Clash of the Titans
by fuNkysOuL
Summary: There’s a new guy on the block and he’s bound to loom larger… larger than Rukawa, that is. He’s drawing everybody’s attention which used to be reserved only for the super rookie with the iceberg personality. The next super rookie?
1. Chapter I

  


**SUMMARY: There's a new guy on the block and he's bound to loom larger… larger than Rukawa, that is. He's drawing everybody's attention which used to be reserved only for the super rookie with the iceberg personality. The next super rookie? Let's see – this guy's colder than the iceberg that is Kaede, a better player and definitely more good looking. Does a rivalry threaten to ensue?**

**DISCLAIMER: **SD is not mine yadda, yadda, yadda. But my characters are mine.

**CHAPTER I**

            Following his daily routine, he got up as light was just starting to sneak through the clouds. He got into his favorite pair of jogging pants and pulled out a sweatshirt from the closet. He slipped into his sneakers and went down to the empty kitchen where he drank a glass of water. He then started out on his daily jog around the village.

            He loved the smell of the early morning air. It made him feel so relaxed even though his heart was beating wildly against his chest after circling the whole village. It has been his usual exercise in the morning to keep him fit to be able to keep up with the demands of his only love, basketball.

            The sun was a bit higher now and all the effort made him sweat so he stopped for a while. He shook those raven locks of his revealing clear, blue eyes and well chiseled features that would make every other girl's heart jump in place. He took in the surroundings noting that he had already done two laps then his attention was caught by a well-polished thing of beauty, a motorbike being carried out of a truck.

            "Yokohama Movers," he read to himself. New neighbors. Wonder what happened to the old guy who used to live there, he thought. He started to jog again and as he passed by the house, a guy about his age and almost as tall as him with the same black hair got out of the truck dribbling a basketball and went inside the house.

            Hmmm, new kid. And plays basketball, too.

            And with that, he was on his way to complete his usual five laps.

            After breakfast, he took off on his bike and headed to Shohoku High. People especially females would stop and stare at him as he drove by but he was oblivious to all that. Then without a warning, something hit him and his bike lurched forward. All he could make out was the scorching heat on his skin as his body made contact with the pavement. His head snapped up quickly to look at the culprit. 

            With menacing eyes, he saw that the guilty party was on the motorbike he had seen earlier. He had sparkling blue eyes on his pale face which was adorned by his meticulously-styled black hair. He stopped for a while, glancing at the fallen biker, with no hint of emotion at all, except a cool demeanor to regard the ace of Shohoku. Heads turned to look at him, the attention which was previously showered only on the super rookie after the spectacular showing at the InterHigh. Gasps were heard as girls marked him as an official looker. Then he sped on his way.  

            Usually, girls would be swarming around Kaede Rukawa. Not that he didn't pay attention to them but the absence of hands on his body and noise abuzz in his ears told him something was different. His usual fan club didn't rush to him as he fell down. Some half-heartedly took to him but their eyes were fixed on the new kid.

            Oh well, that's fine. They're very annoying anyway.

            "Good morning, class," the teacher automatically said as soon as he entered the classroom. With a quick glance at the students, which made every one sit down and keep quiet, he opened his bag and pulled out the class cards for the day's recitation. 

            "Before we start with our lesson, I'd like to introduce to you a new classmate of yours," signaling the tall guy outside to come in. "Class, this is Mr. Lorenzo Enishi Takeno. He just moved in from the Philippines and he's now living with his grandfather." 

            Rukawa regarded him forebodingly. Black hair, blue eyes, tall frame. So this is the new kid, the one who bumped me and didn't even bother to apologize. The old guy's got a teenager with him. Wonder if that wouldn't irk him more, remembering the time when a village kid taunted the old man for staying indoors all the time.

            "You could get to know your classmates during your free time as we can't waste time," the teacher told Lorenzo who was looking at his classmates in an uninterested manner. "You may take a seat right here."

            As Lorenzo was about to sit down, he caught the eye of the guy he bumped earlier on his motorbike. Ignoring the dangerous stare coming his way, he sat down and started doodling on his notebook.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **This fic has no title yet since I can't think of an appropriate one. But rest assured it will have one in the future. Anyway, I hope you like it. This is my first venture into writing fanfics. Please tell me what you think about it so that I'll know if I'll continue it, stop it, change my approach towards my story, or if the story stinks altogether. Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter II

**DISCLAIMER: Slam Dunk, though I wish to own it, is not mine and never will be. All credits go to Takehiko Inoue, who has done such a fine work. I love him so for giving us Slam Dunk.**

**CHAPTER II**

            The team had been practicing for a while, to get the Shohoku Team ready for the upcoming Winter Games. As usual, the redhead Sakuragi was noisy again as the new captain Ryota shouted orders at them. 

            It's going to be a tough one without Akagi and Kogure, thought Miyagi, as he glanced at their lovely manager, Ayako with whom he has had feelings for so long but still unable to express to her how much he feels about her. I guess that will just have to wait. And with a sigh, he ordered the players to work harder.

            Meanwhile, Akagi and Kogure were sitting by Coach Anzai. They were visiting to see how the team was doing, missing the days when they were still playing the game. They had to study for their entrance exams so they retired but Mitsui remained, which was fortunate as the team is badly in need of strong point-getters.

            The redhead still hasn't changed, thought Akagi. Fortunately for him, there's nobody to swat his head when he's so worked up he's irritating everybody. 

            Rukawa having worked up a lot of sweat paused for a while. He scanned the bleachers and stopped when he saw a girl who was standing in front of some female second years. He knew they were second years because they were friends with Ayako. She was obviously just telling them something, as it was his first time to see her with them. She was usually with freshmen, some of them from his own class. 

            Now, now, he told himself. It's not everyday that you get to notice someone, particularly a girl. The last time he thought of a girl was… never. Except for his mom. But she's not exactly the kind of girl I'm pointing out here. But who could not notice her? She was quite pretty with her shiny black hair that reached up to her back, those expressive almond-shaped emerald eyes, her pale yellow skin which almost always seemed to glow (at least, to him), and those exquisite lips. And her bubbly personality which is just so infectious. Who in his right mind could not like her? 

            Just then, Kogure's face was right in front of him, blocking the girls in the bleachers from view. "Hey, Rukawa, what's up? You should be practicing," he said with a mischievous tone.  Then he looked at the direction Rukawa was looking at. "Hey, that's Aira. What's up with her?"

            "You asking me?" replied Rukawa looking innocent but in his mind, he was thinking, so her name's Aira. "I've got nothing to do with her." After being met with an amused look from the bespectacled guy, he asked "How are you and Akagi doing? You seem to enjoy watching us a lot."

            "Yeah well, we miss playing basketball. It's kinda like our whole life already," he replied. "The Winter Games are coming soon. We're gonna watch out for you guys. But it's gonna be tough. You've got strong opposition from Ryonan, Shoyo with all the third years staying and of course, Kainan." He was quite amused that Rukawa was talking this much. It's such a great change. Maybe something happened to him.

            "We'll just see what happens. Ryota's working us up pretty badly but the lot of them still have to improve more."

            "RUKAWA!" came the voice of their small but terrible, curly-haired captain. "Get back into practice!"

"Later," the raven-haired guy said and as he jogged back into the court, he took a look at the bleachers again and was quite disappointed that Aira had gone. However, during the remainder of the practice, he kept repeating her name in his mind though he had no idea why.

            After telling the sophomore girls in the gym who had been watching the basketball team practice, as usual, about the upcoming meeting of the Journalism Club, she immediately got out of the gym. There's nothing interesting to watch inside. The girls were all just wasting their time bawling their eyes out at the Shohoku Team members. Of course, they were good considering the fact that they had beaten Sannoh, the number one school in Japan during the InterHigh, but what puzzles her most is why girls have to come there every afternoon to watch them practice, instead of just spending their time improving their craft. And there are actually plenty of things to do for the publication. 

            "Hey Aira!" called Kit, one of her close friends and a fellow member at the Journalism Club. "Ms. Journalism Club Vice-President, we need your signature so that the administration could release additional funds for all our expenses. Please sign here." With a smile, Aira took the pen and signed above the name Aira Sachiko Hitomi. 

            "Has everyone been informed of our meeting on Friday?"

            "Just a couple more sophomores. Alright, thanks. Catch you later." 

            "Yeah, bye," but her eyes were fixated on a black-haired guy with a tall frame passing through the gates of Shohoku. Viewing him from his side, there was something familiar about him. A childhood friend. Enzo? 

            She hurried to the gates to find out if it was really him. But she just saw a whir of black and caught the stud in the guy's ear as a motorbike sped by. 

            Yohei was walking with the rest of the Sakuragi Guntai. They were not going to watch the team practice as they usually did, partly because Sakuragi was getting boring, but because they each have chores to do. Then something flashy caught his eye. It's a pretty small one so it probably came from an earring. There are no girls around and Ryota is the only one I know who's got a stud. Then he saw a pretty good looking guy in a motorbike. Looks tough, he thought. He's the only one around here who rides a motorbike. 

            Then everybody around him was abuzz with chatter as girls swooned and guys talked about what happened earlier that day.

            "Hey, that was the guy who bumped into Rukawa's bike."

            "Yeah, Rukawa fell down but that guy didn't do anything."

            "And he's in the same class as Rukawa."

            "Oh, he's so handsome!"

            "He's such a looker."

            "But he humiliated our Rukawa!"

            "Don't mind that super rookie. He's a super rookie alright, but he's no match for this guy's looks."

            "What's his name?"

            "His first name's Lorenzo. I don't know his full name."

            "It's Lorenzo Enishi Takeno. I wrote it down when the teacher introduced him. Oh, he's so cute."

            "Rukawa was already looking at him menacingly but he just sat oblivious to it."

            "Maybe there's new trouble brewing, haha!"

            Yadda, yadda, yadda, yadda.

            The Sakuragi Guntai listened to all these with interest. So there's a new guy and he's challenging Rukawa. Things are gonna look brighter for the whole week, they thought.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, guys! Thanks to all those who reviewed. Unfortunately, this fic has no title yet. I'm thinking of entitling it as "Rivals" but it seems lame. You guys have any other suggestions? Better ones than _Rivals_. Thanks and please tell me what you think about this second chapter. Comments, suggestions, complaints, violent reactions are welcome.**


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